


In Our Times To Come

by Excavalion



Category: Trollhunters (Cartoon), Trollhunters - Daniel Kraus & Guillermo del Toro
Genre: Angst, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-25
Updated: 2020-10-06
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:48:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,760
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26099680
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Excavalion/pseuds/Excavalion
Summary: A collection of Jlaire shorts
Relationships: Jim Lake Jr./Claire Nuñez
Comments: 3
Kudos: 45





	1. The Sound Of Thunder

Fear was a strange thing. 

Many people had different interpretations of the word and it’s meaning- usually based upon their own experiences. Fear for Jim meant losing his friends; fear meant Gunmar and Bular and everything else that lurked in the shadows, just waiting to dig their claws into his skin and pull him under. Fear meant imminent danger with a very high chance of death and a low chance of survival. However, Jim had come to realize fear wasn’t just danger- it was a residual feeling of anxiety and panic that would spike when re-faced with something that had previously made his stomach twist and his blood freeze in fright. 

An ominous boom of thunder echoed tauntingly outside the room and Jim clutched at his chest, his heart beating sporadically. _Fear_ was the memory of electricity coursing through his body, heat boiling his blood and singing the tips of his hair as he fell from the sky, lightning sparking across his vision in a brilliant array of dangerous light. That moment, the fight that happened so long ago on his sixteenth birthday, haunted him like the sound of thunder to lightning. That night had _terrified_ him. He’d been completely alone thousands of feet in the air, soaked to the bone and being carried ever higher by a winged beast that desperately wanted him dead.

Getting himself struck by lightning was an extremely impulsive and painful idea, but at the time he couldn’t think of anything better. While he didn’t necessarily regret the action, the pain of it came back like a ghost with a vengeance whenever he heard the familiar rumble of thunder in the distance. It was a stupid thing to fear- he’d faced _Gunmar_ and lived to tell the tale, yet when he went to sleep at night it was _lightning_ that had him screaming himself awake. Some Trollhunter he was.

Another roll of thunder startled Jim out of his thoughts and he glanced at the water-streaked window, past the rain pelting the glass, and at the dark sky outside. Black clouds crowded the sky, only illuminated by the lightning that would occasionally strike through them and shock the ground. It wasn’t quiet in the room by a long shot, not with the rain drumming on the roof and the thunder every so often, but Jim’s harsh breathing and beating heart made everything else sound like a mere whisper.

Fingers brushed his arm and he jumped with a strangled gasp, his blue eyes darting from the window to focus on Claire’s worried brown ones. He tried to calm his shaking with an embarrassed huff as Claire continued to watch him carefully, her face scrunched. He’d almost forgotten she was even there- despite it being _her_ house that he was currently in. “Sorry,” He croaked quietly. “I didn’t- did I- Uh… when did you wake up?” Jim smiled awkwardly and Claire furrowed her brow in concern. Her hair was messed up from sleep, the dark brown strands sticking up around her face, and she glanced out at the window where he’d been staring, then looked back at him- trying to piece together his panicked reaction. “I… just did.” She responded lamely. 

Light filled the room for a split second as lightning flashed outside, and Jim’s hand twitched in its place resting on his chest. He didn’t want to react too badly and concern Claire- though she already seemed to be suspicious. Claire caught the movement despite Jim holding himself back and frowned. “What’s wrong?” She asked sweetly and Jim covered his surprised, “Uh-“ with an impromptu cough. _Nice one_. “There’s- nothing wrong, ah- w-why would you think there’s something wrong?” He replied quickly, biting his tongue to keep himself from continuing his rushed, and frankly horrible, excuse. Claire sat up from her position laying beside him and reached down to run a hand through his hair comfortingly, brushing the black strands from his tired and bloodshot eyes. “Jim,” She started slowly, and he sucked in a nervous breath of air through his teeth. “Please don’t try to hide things from me. I won’t judge you, I promise- but I can’t help if you don’t tell me anything.” Jim sighed and looked back over to the blurry window, afraid to meet Claire’s eyes and see the hurt he knew was in them. He didn’t want to hide things from her, of course not, but…

Claire placed her hand on his cheek and tilted his head back towards her. “Please?” She begged, and Jim’s lips twitched up into a sad smile. He could never deny her anything. He pushed his hands on the bed and sat up with her, leaning his back against the wall. He continued to sit there for a second, afraid to start, but Claire waited patiently. She was willing to give him all the time in the world. “I guess… I’m afraid of lightning?” He admitted, cringing. He’d never told anyone about his embarrassing fear and it sounded even worse out loud.

He waited a second, and Claire scooted closer, grabbing his hand in hers and intertwining their fingers. She didn’t say anything, so Jim took the silence as permission to continue. “It’s stupid I know, especially with all the things we’ve faced, but last year on my sixteenth birthday… I got dragged into the sky by a stalkling and struck by lightning,” He felt her stiffen beside him with a sharp intake of breath, her hand tightening in his, but she still didn’t say anything. “Now, whenever I hear thunder or see lightning I’m just… brought back to that night.” He ended. It was something he tried to ignore for a long time, but whenever a storm came around he just… couldn’t. 

Jim watched her carefully, trying to gauge her reaction to his story. She remained quiet, a slight frown on her face as she watched him. Another beat of silence passed between them and Jim grew worried. “Claire…?” He prompted, and she blinked. “It’s not stupid,” She finally replied, and Jim felt a tad disappointed at the less than convincing response. She said she wouldn’t judge him, but... “Oh…” He sighed, biting his lip. Claire huffed awkwardly. “No, that’s not what I- Jim, I’m sorry I’m just surprised is all.” She explained guiltily. She grabbed both his hands and brought them up to her face, her eyes boring into his intensely. “You- you were ‘ _struck by lightning’?_ ” She restated softly and Jim nodded nervously. “Yeah, that’s- that’s what I said…” He mumbled with a half-hearted chuckle.

Claire shook her head sadly and released his hands to lunge forward and hug him tightly, her face pressed into his chest. He jumped in surprise before wrapping his arms around her and burying his face in her shoulder. Her body was warm against his and he relished in her comforting presence over the cold and harsh storm outside. “I had no idea, Jim,“ She whispered sadly, her voice muffled in his shirt. “I’m so sorry.” Claire clutched her hands in his shirt, the fabric bunching underneath her fingers. Jim laughed quietly and hugged her tighter, her dark brown hair tickling his cheeks. “You don’t need to be sorry, it was a while ago now…” He said. He didn’t admit his fear to her just so she would end up feeling sorry for him. He hated seeing her beautiful face twisted in sadness. 

Claire pulled back slightly, and his arms dropped to her waist. Her eyes searched his face for a moment before she raised her hand to rub her fingers over his cheek lovingly. “What happened to the stalkling?” She asked. “The lightning turned it to stone. I’m… I’m sorry I never told you.” He answered, looking away. Truth be told he had blocked the memory from his mind and had no intentions of telling Claire, but she was his girlfriend and he felt she deserved to know.

Claire shook her head. “You don’t need to apologize, Jim- I’m just glad you told me.” She answered honestly. Jim nodded and Claire leaned back against the wall with him, resting her head on his shoulder. They sat together in a comfortable silence, neither of them talking. However, Jim struggled to prevent himself from jumping at every sudden flash of lightning that lit up the purple room. He was almost convinced Claire was asleep until she finally said something about his constant twitching. “Do you think you can fall back asleep?” She asked him, now playing absentmindedly with the end of his shirt. Jim laughed sarcastically. Sleep was the farthest thing from his mind. “Not really… There’s no way I can ignore the storm enough to do so.” He replied, already having been trying to calm down for the past few minutes.

Claire rubbed his side comfortingly and shrugged. “Then I’ll stay up with you,” She said earnestly and he smiled gratefully. She should get some sleep too, but Jim knew from experience that she was just as stubborn as he was. He’d learned that the hard way. No amount of convincing on his part was going to get her to just go back to sleep- especially when he was still in distress. He rolled his eyes in amusement, but was touched by how much she cared about him. Sleep was important, after all- not that he got much of it himself. Jim was again reminded of the storm outside with another clap of thunder, and he shot the window an uneasy glance. The rain seemed like it was pouring harder now than it was earlier, the sound terrifyingly reminding him of what the rain sounded like hitting the stalkling’s stone scales, but Jim’s worrying was stopped in its tracks as Claire rested a hand on his chest above his heart. 

“Stop,” She whispered. Jim raised an eyebrow in confusion. “Stop… what?” He asked and she rolled her eyes. “You know what I mean- stop worrying.” Claire scooted closer to him. “You don’t have to be scared, I’m right here. Just pay attention to me and forget everything else.” She reasoned and Jim sighed. It sure was a tempting offer. “I can try,” He replied cautiously and she nodded happily, her brown eyes sparkling. “Give me your hand,” Claire prompted and he did. She strokes her fingers over his knuckles smoothly and repeated the action, marking a soothing pattern on his skin. “Just… focus on me.” She repeated and Jim tried, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. He did his best to block out the storm and the sound of the rain, instead paying attention to the warmth of Claire’s hand in his and her heat radiating against his side.

Jim relaxed against her, his head falling onto her shoulder, and she squeezed his hand tighter. Slowly the sounds outside slipped his mind, his thoughts growing muddled as he began to fall asleep. It was warm and comforting, wrapped in the arms of the girl he loved more than anything, and he whispered a small, “Thank you,” to his Juliet next to him. Claire used her other hand to begin running her fingers through his hair again, messing with the dark strands. “Anytime, Jim.” She murmured back, and he finally fell back asleep- despite the storm still raging outside. Claire continued to rub Jim’s hand and play with his hair long after he fell asleep. His breaths were soft and even against her collarbone, and she let him subconsciously soak in the feeling of complete safety he was so rarely granted. It was a while before she too fell asleep, her hand dropping to his side and her cheek pressed into his hair. 

When the next boom of thunder echoed through the room, the windows shaking from the deep vibrations, Jim didn’t so much as flinch. 


	2. Sneak Peek

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She couldn’t name a time in her life when she had been happier than she was when she saw Jim as himself again; as the boy she had fallen in love with. Although that love for him did not change when he became a troll (not at all!)

Tiredly stumbling back into Arcadia at nearly one in the morning was not how any of them had expected the fight with the Arcane Order to end.

It had been an extremely tiring and taxing several days- days for those that went back in time, anyway- and two Trollhunters could confidently say they were seconds away from keeling over at any moment. For Jim, his memory of the last day and a half was split into fragments and blurred beyond recognition. His time in Camelot was filled with pain and panic, only occasionally soothed by Claire’s gentle touch; and his time in the present was spent in the backseat of his own mind. He wondered if that was how Draal had felt when Gunmar had taken control of him, like a prisoner inside his own body.

He didn’t want to think about that.

Jim had been forced to nauseatingly watch the clouded events unfold, unable to do anything to prevent it- whatever it was.

The only parts he clearly remembered was a startlingly nostalgic moment between him and Claire in the Shadow Realm, and crawling out of the broken stone of the monstrous beast (beast, the word stung his tongue like venom) he had transformed into. He still wasn’t sure what had happened, but he would never forget the way the heartbroken look on Claire’s face had so quickly turned into the purest form of relief and elation he had ever seen. Her eyes had lit up so beautifully, and she had thrown herself into his arms with such enthusiasm he had nearly collapsed under its sincerity.

He could never explain how truly happy he had felt to hold her close to him as himself again.

For Claire, her time in Camelot was spent with her back so taught she could have sworn she would break it. She could feel Morgana’s magic permeating every corner and crack of the castle, her dark presence seemingly watching her every move. Even when Claire had tried to tell herself that Morgana had not yet become the enemy and therefore had nothing to fear, she still could not forget the absolute terror she had felt when they had gotten trapped in the Shadow Realm together during the Eternal Night.

The first time Claire had gone to sleep in the castle, in a grand bed far bigger than she needed, she had hoped it would be a blissful moment of reprieve from the chaos of the waking hour. However, her last few minutes awake before she closed her eyes were filled with thoughts of Jim. She had no clue where he was, and though she could feel in her heart that he was still alive (he had to be, there was no other option- not while she still breathed), she still feared for his life. At that moment, she would have given anything to have him laying safe beside her. Once she fell asleep her mind was tormented with nightmares ranging from what had happened to Jim, to what would happen to Morgana. She’d wake up with a reasonable several hours rest, but felt like she hadn’t slept a wink. Claire had been greatly looking forward to returning to the present.

That is, until Jim told her what would happen when they did. He was right when they said they were ironically out of time, but she didn’t care. It was horribly selfish, but she would give up the whole world for Jim. She didn’t care about them as long as she could keep her Romeo at her side. He was everything to her, the sun in the sky and the moon among the stars. Just a whisper of possibility of something bad happening to the boy she loved so much constricted her entire being in a fearful grasp.

Thankfully though she didn’t have to make any major sacrifices, and not only did she get Jim back, but he was human again! Her heart had shattered into a million pieces when she thought he was gone- really and truly gone. It left her with a gaping hole in her heart, and a lingering darkness of inconceivable pain she was afraid to think about. She couldn’t name a time in her life when she had been happier than she was when she saw Jim as himself again; as the boy she had fallen in love with. Although that love for him did not change when he became a troll (not at all!), he had never truly felt the same. It felt like Jim had finally returned to her after ages of being apart, even though he had technically been with her the whole time.

In both their opinions, it was the prefect way to end a battle.


End file.
